Big Changes in Early Years

Regular visitors to the Early Years Foundation stage cannot have failed to notice that we have been going through a transformation over the past 12 months. Starting back in April 2024 with the redevelopment of nursery, now both the nursery and the reception classrooms have now been fully redeveloped and we have a brand new Two Year Old Unit! This includes a complete decoration, new flooring, new toilet facilities, new furniture and all new resources, all designed with the needs and interests of our children in mind.

Please take a look at the photographs of our beautiful environments. We are so proud to show them off and we are sure you will agree, they are learning spaces in which to thrive and grow!

Early Years

Welcome to the Djanogly Strelley Academy Early Years page.

We are a 2 year old unit, nursery (F1) and reception class (F2) setting.

We welcome children from 2 years old into our bespoke two year unit (Brown Class), 3-4 nursery setting (Emmett Class) and later into the Reception Classes (Downie and Ramsey Classes). 

The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) is the stage children are educated in between the ages of 0-5 years of age and the EYFS Framework sets the standard of learning, development and care for all children aged 0-5.

The EYFS Framework identifies that children gain skills, acquire new knowledge and demonstrate their understanding through 7 areas of learning and development.  These are split in to prime and specific areas:

Prime areas: 

Communication and Language

Physical Development Personal,

Social and Emotional Development

Specific areas: 

Literacy

Mathematics

Understanding the World

Expressive Art and Design

Children ned to be secure and confident in most aspects of the Prime Areas, before they can move on and become secure in the Specific Areas. For this reason, when children first join the nursery, they will spend much of their play focussing on activities that really support the development of Communication and Language, Physical Development and Personal, Social and Emotional Development.

Our Provision

Our early years provision is divided into areas of learning to support children's interests and learning. These areas remain largely the same throughout the year to allow children to feel safe and secure in the environment. Practitioners will add extra challenge to the provision as children develop and grow and also add additional enhancements to support the children's interests throughout the year.

In F2, the children have access to these areas of continuous provision:

Malleable Area 

Sand Area,

Water Area,

Fine Motor Activities,

Domestic Role Play,

Maths Area,

Art and Creative areas,

Reading Areas

Small world and Construction Areas

Reception

In F1 (Nursery), the children have access to these areas of continuous provision:

Malleable Area 

Sand Area,

Water Area,

Fine Motor table,

Mark Making Table

Domestic Role Play,

Maths Area,

Art and Creative areas,

Reading Areas

Small world and Construction Areas

Nursery

Outdoor Space

We are incredibly lucky here at Djanogly Strelley Academy, to have access to a wonderful and large outdoor space. This environment has been designed to support the development of both gross and fine motor skills and all areas of our Early Years Curriculum can be met both inside and outside. The space is shared between the nursery and reception children, giving them the opportunities to create relationships with children and adults beyond their own classes.

We do access the outdoors whatever the weather, so we ask that you send your child dressed in clothes appropriate for the day's weather conditions.

Two Year Old Unit

We have a new, specifically designed, Two-Year-Old provision at Djanogly Strelley Academy, offering 15-hour nursery places (where eligible) either in mornings (8:45-11:45am) or afternoons (12:15-3:15pm).

We are term time only, following the same holiday pattern as the main school. As a school setting, our attendance expectations are consistent throughout school, and children are expected to attend daily. If you do have concerns about attendance, please speak to Mrs Bamford (Early Years Lead) or Miss Thompson (Attendance Officer).